Let's Split Up, Gaang
by Liberty Roth
Summary: The Dai Li are following the Gaang. The Gaang members decide to confront them, but to find them they need to split up. Toph and Sokka get grouped together, but when Toph's feet get hurt they get stuck underground and end up talking. Tokka.
1. Chapter 1

"Guys."

It wasn't the single word that Katara chose to say that got the attention of the small group, but it was how she said it. Her voice was hard, a no-nonsense voice that Sokka could remember his mother using with him when he was little. It had a commanding edge to it; every face in the small camp in the Western Air Temple looked up at her expectantly.

"We ran into some old friends… the Dai Li." She said, her brown eyebrows angling downward in her concentration.

"The whoserwhatsit?" asked the Duke, pushing his helmet up out of his eyes like he frequently did.

Aang now appeared next to Katara, his new glider in his hand. "The Dai Li agents. They're from the Earth Kingdom, but Azula commands them now. They weren't hard to fight, but I think we should start packing up now."

"Aang's right." Katara said, nodding as she started to approach her bag of things.

Sokka, however, shook his head. "No. We need to face them once and for all. They'll just keep trailing us – we'll have to fight them eventually."

"Sokka," Katara began in surprise. "We need – "

"No, we should fight them now," It was Zuko who spoke now. He stood and stretched. "They won't be expecting it. We'll catch them off guard if we go now. We'll have the upper hand."

Toph stood, also stretching. "Sure. I could use a work out. I think we should fight 'em now. I don't want them following us from here to… wherever we're heading."

Katara frowned slightly, but nodded after a moment. "Alright. Everyone get your weapons – we'll need them."

* * *

It didn't take long for Katara and Aang to show the small group (though it couldn't really be called small now; their group included Zuko, Toph, Sokka, Katara, Aang, the Duke, Teo, and Haru) the black hole where the Dai Li had disappeared into.

"Here," Katara said, handing torches to a few people. Zuko and Aang lit them as Katara distributed them. "Don't worry if your torch goes out – we have Zuko and Aang to be our own personal torches."

"Glad to know I joined the group for something," Zuko muttered under his breath. "Let's go."

The eight members of the group slowly walked into the sloping black hole. It was dark, but light enough that they didn't trip over anything. The tunnel they were walking in was seemingly endless. After walking for an hour, Sokka spoke up. "How do we even know they're down here?"

"We're following a trail, Sokka," Aang explained, tossing his ball of fire from one hand to another.

Sokka scoffed, his forehead creasing. "What trail? I don't see any trail."

Katara let out a frustrated sigh before pointing in the general direction of the tunnel. "_This _is the trail! This tunnel didn't just form perfectly _naturally_."

"Oh. Right…"

It wasn't long before the tunnel widened out. The ceiling grew higher and instead of just one tunnel, three more tunnels could be seen in front of the group.

"Great. Which one do we choose?" Sokka asked flatly.

"We'll have to split up," Katara said, and started handing out more torches. "Everyone needs to have an Earthbender in their group, just in case. Zuko and I will go with Aang in the first tunnel. The Duke and Teo will go with Haru in the second tunnel. Everyone else will go with Toph in the third tunnel."

Sokka squinted, watching everyone shift to form his or her groups. He turned to see Toph standing idly by the third tunnel. "But that just leaves me and Toph."

"Sokka. Toph is the greatest Earthbender. She bends _metal. _I don't think you'll have to worry about anything." Aang said with a smile, handing Sokka a lit torch.

"Hey! I'm not worried!" the Water Tribe boy said, his voice cracking like it often did. He turned to Toph, grumbling under his breath as he began to trek into the third tunnel. "_Thinks I'm scared… not worried… show him…_"


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you trying to _kill _me, Snoozles?" Toph's voice was hard and almost whiny. "We've been walking for _hours_. Shouldn't this tunnel end somewhere?"

Sokka shrugged, though of course Toph couldn't see it. He paused a moment as he looked over to her, forgetting that she was blind for a moment. "It hasn't been hours. Our torch isn't even halfway down yet. And we can't stop until the tunnel ends, until we run into the others, or until we run into the Dai Li."

"I hope we run into the Dai Li," Toph said, sounding cheery now. She smiled, her head tilting upwards as she walked. "I've been itching for a fight."

"Toph. How can you want to fight when we just fought a huge battle on the Day of Black Sun?" he asked, incredulous. Even he didn't want to fight and he loved it, too. "Are fighting and dirt the only two things you like?"

She shrugged, grinning. No, they weren't. She almost said something she knew she would regret, but fought it back down. "Nah. I like plenty of other stuff, too."

"Like…"

"Earthbending."

"And…"

"Metalbending."

"And…"

"Appa. Aang. Zuko. Katara. Teo. Haru. The Duke. Momo. Hawky."

Toph heard the contact as his palm met his forehead with a slapping sound. "Jeez, Toph."

Another grin spread across her face. "What? I'm just kid-" Her grin disappeared as she suddenly broke off. She crouched upon the ground, her palm laying flat on the ground.

"Toph? What are you-"

She held up a finger in her concentration, silencing him. "There's someone up ahead." She whispered.

"The Dai Li?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so. There's no Earthbending going on. Get a hand on your sword and be quiet…" she whispered, straightening.

"But who – "

Another shake of her dark head. Instead of telling him to be quiet again, she placed her hand over his mouth and pointed at his torch. With a nod, he scraped it roughly against the ground. His Earthbender friend winced at the noise as she removed her hand from his mouth. As darkness surrounded them, he felt Toph's rough hand slip into his to help guide him in the darkness.

_It's just because I can't see. _He told himself, but felt oddly let down.

Slowly, slowly, slowly they moved. Even if Toph wasn't an Earthbender and even if she didn't have ears like a fox, he thought she might be able to hear his heartbeat anyway. It was so loud. It was so hot in this tunnel. Why was it so hot now? It couldn't have just been his imagination. It was definitely warmer as they progressed into the darkness.

Suddenly, it wasn't dark anymore. There was a light at the end of the tunnel. He could see a warm glow radiating onto the rock. It was orange-ish and flickering – definitely fire.

As they approached, there was definitely an increase of heat. He dropped Toph's hand to wipe his hot face. The blind Earthbender assumed it was because he could see well enough now, so she kept moving ahead.

"Toph?" he whispered quietly as he could, his hand searching for hers again. Where was she? Where did she go? "Toph? Where did you go?" He still couldn't see _anything _in –

"Look out! _Move_, Sokka!" He suddenly heard her voice near his ear. His blue eyes widened in the darkness as he felt someone crash into him. But that wasn't all the Water Tribe boy felt – a loud punch of sound accompanied the sudden heat. With the heat came light and the muscles in his eyes contracted painfully at the sudden change in brightness.

"Ahhh!" There was a cry of pain – he couldn't be sure whom it was from. Maybe it was from the Fire Nation soldier (who he realized had attacked them in the darkness.) Or, with a lurching feeling, he realized it might be Toph. He couldn't be sure, because as soon as his eyes started adjusting to the sudden brightness he was engulfed by quiet, dark, cool earth.

* * *

Awww. Guess what happened, aye?

I forgot to mention in chapter one - this story is the result of a poll I have going on in my profile. As of the time when I started writing, this plot was in the lead. So I'm writing this one first. I'll write the one that's in second after I'm done with this one, and so on. Thanks for voting/reading. :)


	3. Chapter 3

_Why _do people _always _burn my _feet!_" It was Toph's voice, there was no doubt about that. Her anger was obvious in every one of her words.

Sokka crouched in the pitch-black tunnel, his blue eyes struggling to find the tiniest little piece of light. "Toph! Are you okay? What happened?"

"There were Firebenders and I felt them sneaking up on you… so I pushed you out of the way."

"You… you pushed me out of the way?"

"Yeah." She said, sounding like she was clenching her teeth together in pain.

"Why?"

"Snoozles, I actually like my friends. I don't want them all burned to a crisp."

He still didn't get it. Why had she pushed him out of the way instead of just letting him get burned? Now she was burned instead of him. If he had gotten burned, it would have been okay. Toph could have just Earthbended them out of there and he would have been okay. But now… now she couldn't bend anyone _anywhere_. They were stuck in a dark hole.

"Okay," he said with a sigh, sitting down on the stone floor with his legs criss-crossed. He pulled his sword from its sheath, setting it on his knees. He gently ran his fingers over the smooth blade as he thought. "Well, you can't bend, so – "

"I can too bend!" Toph growled. "I just… can't see where I'm bending to. I can't see as well with my hands – everything's fuzzy. If I try to bend rock, I might accidentally crush us… This place could collapse."

Sokka sighed. "Okay, well… Get over here. I want to make sure we're close in case anything happens."

Although Sokka couldn't see it, Toph nodded. He heard her suck in her breath as she moved slowly. Then he felt her hand brush his fingertips as she moved. He picked up her hand, wrapping his fingers around hers. He squeezed it for a moment, before releasing her hand. "It's okay. I'm here, Toph."

"I don't like not being able to see." She sounded quiet and un-Toph-like.

"It's only until Katara finds us. They'll come looking down in this tunnel eventually…"

It was quiet for a moment. "Sokka?"

"Yeah?"

"We're not in the tunnel anymore. I bended us into a hole beneath the tunnel. This place is only a couple feet wide…"

Sokka pursed his lips, extending his arm upwards. It brushed rock. He stretched his arm out to the side Toph wasn't on. Rock again. "Oh."

"They won't know we're here. Unless one of them brings Aang down here, we'll be stuck here. Until my feet heal, or until…" She trailed off.

Sokka swallowed hard and he thought he knew what she was going to say. But he had to hear her say it. "Or until what, Toph?"

"Or until we run out of air."

* * *

OH NOEZ. Despair! But it's okay! Because** I just watched the Boiling Rock!** Which is an **unreleased episode of Avatar** that airs after the Firebending Masters! You guys are totally gonna love it. :) New Avatar episodes air in July... sigh.


	4. Chapter 4

_Until they ran out of air_. Sokka was sure Toph could hear his palm colliding with his forehead. "How long do you think that will be?"

"Don't ask me, Snoozles. I don't go around calculating how much air we breathe. Though I think we would live a lot longer if you'd _stop _breathing like a mooselion with one lung. I think Katara will be able to hear us without Aang." She told him in the darkness.

Pfft. Sokka didn't think his breathing was _that _loud. She was exaggerating. "Or maybe she'll be able to smell you." He shot back at her.

There was a pause, as if Toph hadn't quite expected that. "Good one," she said after a moment. "Though I had a hard time hearing you over the _pfft-aaah-pfft-aaah _that you call breathing."

He almost laughed, but then he remembered where he was. "Do you think Haru will be able to find us?"

She considered it. "I don't know. Mustache Man learned Earthbending a different way than I did."

"Yeah? How'd you learn?"

"Badgermoles."

"Oh. I remember those."

A grin broke across the teenager's face and the twelve-year-old's face as well, though neither of them knew the other person was grinning. "Katara told me about the secret tunnel you guys went through."

"It wasn't bad for her, she didn't get stuck with the stupid nomads…" he muttered. Toph's ears caught the words, and she continued to grin.

"She told me about them, too. And that they… _sang._"

He felt his stomach drop. "No, no – "

"SECRET TUNNEL! SECRET TUNNEL!"

He reached his hand over, briefly touching her jaw by accident before finding her mouth. Even though his fingers were over her mouth, she was still singing. He could hear a muffled, "Through the mountains! Secret secret secret secret tunnel! Yeah!"

"Toph, stop it! You're using up all of our air!" He pleaded, feeling his cheeks heat at his excuse. He really didn't think her singing would make them run out of air sooner, but he wanted it to stop.

"Relax, Snoozles." She muttered, knocking his hand off of her face. "If we do start running out of air, I'll try to Earthbend us outta here."

"But you said you might – "

"Yeah. But I'll try anyway. I'd rather take a chance and die trying to escape than die by running out of air." She said quietly, and he felt her elbow brush his side as she moved.

"We're not going to die." He murmured, stretching out next to her.

He heard the sound of air escaping through her lips. He tried to picture her, but the only image that came up was one of her lips. He couldn't picture the rest of her face. His cheeks began to grow warm.

"Right," she said, though she said it half-hearted. "We don't exactly have the best luck."

He closed his eyes, the darkness unchanging. "What d'you mean?"

"I mean, if you haven't exactly noticed, Sokka… Every time you throw your boomerang, it comes back to hit you. Know what I mean? Katara told me that Aunt Mu or whatever her name was told you that your life would be filled with self-inflicted pain. I guess she was right."

Sokka's dark cheeks burned red. "I meant the 'we' part. You have good luck. You're the Earth Rumble Six champion."

"That's not _luck_, Sokka. That's practice." Toph pursed her lips. "And I don't have bad luck, but I don't have good luck, either. I'm _blind_, remember? A baby who had good luck wouldn't have been born blind."

"That's a bad excuse coming from Miss Metalbender. You're the greatest Earthbender, remember?"

"One who is stuck underground with Boomerang Man."

"Hey. Leave boomerang alone. He never did anything to you."

A sigh escaped from the blind girl's lips. "I guess not. Who would have thought that my plan would backfire and I'd be stuck in a hole?"

His brow furrowed. "Plan? What plan?"

There was a pause. "Yeah. Plan. Remember how there were tunnels?"

"Yeah."

"Well, uh. I could tell which one the Dai Li went down." She admitted.

Sokka was confused and a little angry. "You knew! Why didn't you tell Katara or Aang?! We could have avoided this whole mess!"

"I didn't tell Katara because I knew she would pair you and me together. The Metalbender with the non-bending guy."

"… I don't understand." Sokka admitted.

There was a huff of frustration. "You don't get it, do you? I thought _I _was the blind one, Sokka. I knew that Aang liked Katara before you did – up until a week ago you still thought he liked that girl with the annoying voice – Meng? You're not very good at making observations."

"Sure I am!" he protested and sat up.

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am!"

"No."

"Yes. Ask me anything about anyone in the group." He pestered, poking Toph in what he hoped was her stomach.

Toph sighed, grabbing his hand and using it to pull herself up off the ground. "Alright. Zuko's scar is on what side of his face?"

"Uhhh… pass. It's not important."

"You don't know, do you?" Toph sounded amused. "Even _I _know what side it's on – and I can't even see his face!"

"I said pass!"

"Okay. Here's an easy one. Who does Aang have a crush on?"

"Katara," he said. He was sure about that one, since Toph had just mentioned it a second ago. One point for him!

"Haru likes who?"

This time his answer wasn't as sure. He paused for a moment, and his voice sounded hesitant. "… Katara?" he asked.

"The plot thickens," she said, and he took it as a 'yes.' Haru liked Katara? Who else liked Katara? Did _Zuko _like Katara, too?

"Does Zuko like Katara?" he couldn't help it. It just came out.

Toph ignored his question. "Okay, Sokka. Final question. If you can answer it, I'll… I don't know. Give you a pat on the head or something."

"That's not a good reward." He muttered under his breath.

"There's not exactly any meat down here for me to reward you with, Meat and Sarcasm Guy. Okay. Final question. Who… do _I _like?"

* * *

This one was really long, but I had to get to a moment where I could give you guys a good cliff hanger. I love me some dramatic pauses! :D

Oh, and yes. Sokka does breathe like Darth Vader when he's trapped under the ground with a pretty girl.


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